Thursday, 4 December 2014

What's wrong with Radical Independence Campaign(RIC)?

I of course support reforms if gained from direct action at the grassroots. I'm not in favour of oppression sold as progress though and am opposed to reformism.

It's reformist: It locates the source of social problems with Westminster/ the tories/neo-liberal instead of systems of oppression like capitalism,patriarchy etc. It views these problems through the lens of Scottish independence and the referendum. While this is not nationalist in the sense of fascism it does view issues through the perspective of nations which is very limited.

"this time it'll be different" type thinking.

Neo-liberalism is a phase of capitalism and exists more or less, everywhere in industrialized nations.

RIC seems to believe that an independent scotland will be unlike any other previous state. This is not true.

Not truly radical: RIC seems generally concerned with electoral politics and elections. But this will not end oppression just change it's form. One split off group from RIC is the Scottish Left Project which seeks to form something akin to a left unity political party.
The class struggle will remain in an independence Scotland therefore RIC does not appear to even be anti-capitalist truly.

RIC has co-opted radicals into devoting their energy to it and to diluting their politics into reformism.

I've seen independence campaigners devote more time to independence than to pro-choice marches, anti-workfare etc. Those I'm least critical of are those who have done both together.

Talking in terms of nations masks other kinds of social divisions e.g. class and hides class struggle, patriarchy, white supremacy and other systems of oppression. It is not useful or positive.

How radical or independent could an independent scotland be?
It's debatable how independence an independent Scotland could be with the existence of WTO , IMF, World Bank, US government etc. The answer is really, not independent!

An independent Scotland would need to pander to business to boost it's economy so it would be pro-big business if not neo-liberal.

An independent Scotland could not help but utilise North Sea oil and be reliant on it most likely.

SNP are hardly a radical party but more like Tartan Tories.

Anarchist viewpoints have been dismissed, ignored or left out(purposely or unconsciously not considered)

RIC seems to hate the anarchist federation.

Important quotes to consider:-

"The decision-making power of the Scottish state itself will always be subject to the vagaries of global capital, the movement of transnationals, the bullying of London and controlling eye of the EU and IMF. More importantly, having a smaller nation state won’t lead to ever smaller democratic units and it won’t replace representative democracy with participative, direct democracy. To suggest otherwise is simply naïve, and misunderstands that working class people can only gain power for themselves through struggle.""The democratic myth is a large part of leftists’ justification for supporting an independent state. The Scottish Socialist Party sees it as a means for rejuvenating their brand of parliamentary socialism which, relying as it does on electioneering and the state, is basically a vision of Old Labour in a Scottish context: nationalization, progressive taxation etc. Capitalism, as always, isn’t actually threatened, it’s accepted with the hope of greater state intervention and welfare.""Simply put, there is no reason to believe that in an independent Scotland libertarian socialist organizing would be in real terms any easier or that because of its existence we would see an upsurge in class struggle.""If anything, the intensification of the nationalist project championed by all apparently ‘progressive’ opinion could have a significant effect in mystifying power and class relations and undermining the self-organisation of the working class in favour of its passivity and support for new forms of failed ideas. "- which is what we've seen happen.

"
An independent Scotland would in most respects have resembled the Scotland of the UK, a patriarchal, capitalist, environmentally destructive society. A country with the most unequal land ownership in the developed world – where 50% of the land is owned by just 432 individuals. A country dependent on North Sea oil for much of its exports – oil that must be left in the ground to prevent climate catastrophe. A country with huge poverty and huge wealth and little in the way of organised working class action to change that dynamic.
And in so continuing to uphold the same institutions, the same structures of power, the same business interests, and the same political configuration, our fight against the state, capital and oppression continues.Similiar viewpoints here:-